Vermont is, of course, known for its snow. The white, fluffy stuff is beloved by skiers and landscape painters alike, each year turning the Green Mountain State into a winter wonderland. While we tend to think of snow in its accumulated form, one Vermonter made his name by getting very, very close to the singular crystals: Wilson "Snowflake" Bentley of Jericho, a 19th-century farmer-turned-photographer credited with the discovery that no two snowflakes are alike.

Today, the legacy of Snowflake Bentley is commemorated and celebrated with an exhibit produced by the Jericho Historical Society, housed in the town's Old Red Mill. Located 30 minutes from Burlington and open year-round, the display boasts much of Bentley's photography equipment, original micro-photographs and other historical artifacts.

"Always, from the very beginning, it was the snowflakes that fascinated me most," said Bentley, according to a quote in the exhibit. Born in Jericho in 1865 and mostly educated at home, he was drawn to weather phenomena from a young age — not just snow but raindrops and cloud formations, as well. At age 15, he placed a snowflake beneath a microscope his mother had given him. He attempted to draw the intricate ice crystal by hand — but it melted.

COURTESY OF THE JERICHO HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Wilson “Snowflake” Bentley

Next came years of dogged experimentation, all the while keeping up with the demanding chores of farm life in Vermont. Bentley continued to draw hundreds of snow crystals and, at 17, was gifted his heart's desire by his parents: a camera. He spent the next three years developing methods to try to capture flakes before they melted (or sublimated, going directly from a solid to a gas).

"I shall never forget the disappointments that followed my early attempts," the exhibit quotes Bentley. "I failed over and over again."

COURTESY OF THE JERICHO HISTORICAL SOCIETY

In January 1885, Bentley finally achieved his goal, using his bellows camera attached to a microscope, with his own system for focusing the microscope while looking through the camera's viewfinder. He successfully captured the breathtaking detail of snow on film and became recognized as the first person to photograph a single snowflake. He went on to make images of more than 5,000 snowflakes, intimate portraits of nature's uncanny architectural capacities.

At the Old Mill, viewers can see dozens of Bentley's original images. To look at these photos is to begin to understand his obsession, which sits firmly at the intersection of art and science. Each crystal is a marvel, a feat of symmetry and beauty that shares much in common with mandalas, fractals and investigations of sacred geometry. That a poor, self-educated young farmer could devise a way to capture their precarious existence in the late 19th century is, by any standard, impressive.

Bentley and his efforts did not remain in obscurity. In his lifetime, he sold photographs by mail (one such correspondence is included in the exhibit), and his work was lauded nationally and internationally. His studies were published in magazines including National Geographic, Popular Science and Scientific American.

COURTESY OF THE JERICHO HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Today, closer to his hometown, Bentley is something of a folk hero. Most, if not all, Vermont schoolchildren are taught about his achievements. A plaque on the town green recognizes "Jericho's world famous snowflake authority." The children's book Snowflake Bentley, written by Jacqueline Briggs Martin and illustrated with woodcuts by Vermont artist Mary Azarian, won the Caldecott Medal in 1999.

As Martin gently suggests in Snowflake Bentley, it was likely the artist's love for snow that ultimately led to his death in 1931. Shortly after the publication of his book, Snow Crystals, Bentley walked six miles back to his house during a blizzard. He died of pneumonia just two weeks later at the age of 66.

Today, Bentley lives on every time snow falls. One has the sense that if he had lived to be 100, he would've kept doing what he loved: photographing snow crystals and sharing his images with the world. Or, as he once put it: "Oh for a thousand hands, a thousand cameras, to preserve more of this exquisite beauty so lavishly scattered over the earth."

See for yourself

View the Snowflake Bentley exhibit at 4A Red Mill Drive in Jericho. Open daily through December 30 and on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays from January through March. Call ahead to confirm. Info, 802-899-3225, snowflakebentley.com.

DAN KRIEGER

Old Red Mill, home to the Jericho Historical Society’s Snowflake Bentley exhibit

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